Rowan raised his eyebrows at Jordy over Brady’s shoulder as if to sayis this guy for real?But he shook his hand anyway. “Uh, Rowan.”
“Oh, Rowan. You must be the new Janice.”
Jordy’s brain screeched to a halt halfway through pulling out a chair.
Kaira, though, didn’t miss a beat. “Don’t be silly, Cap.” She settled into her chair and reached for her napkin, which had been folded into a swan shape. “He’s Rowan.”
Fortunately Rowan seemed to think nothing of it, so Jordy had a moment to stow his discomfort. What was wrong with him anyway? Technically, from Brady’s point of view, he hadn’t said anything weird.
Jordy pushed away the feeling of disquiet and focused on getting lunch for Kaira.
Any hopes Jordy might have had for a quiet evening were dashed by Ryan Wright. They ran into him, Nico, and Dante in the lobby as the other three were headed out of the hotel, but Ryan, having caught sight of them, lit up. “Hey, you have to join us at the bar tonight. We’re having our traditional Gays Night.”
“Isit a tradition?” Nico asked behind him.
Ryan gasped in offense. “Yes. Look, we gotta have drinks anytime more than three of us are gathered in one place. Jordy—” Ryan paused, turned to Rowan, and continued. “—Rowan, I’ll text you details.”
He did, unfortunately, text details, including the detail that the Yorkshires had offered to look after Kaira while Jordy and Rowan went out. With no excuse—and feeling like he owed it to Rowan to give him a night out—Jordy sucked it up and put on his going-out pants.
The bar Ryan had chosen wasn’t a gay bar, but it was within walking distance of the hotel and had a small private room. Rowan and Jordy found the other three already settled into it with drinks in front of them.
“You’re here!” Ryan looked like he’d already finished off a couple of shots, but he perked up out of his slouch against Nico to greet them.
“Welcome, boys.” Dante handed Rowan and Jordy each a shot. Jordy sniffed his. This didn’t smell like the vile brew of vodka, tequila, and Schlager he’d once naively downed, but you could never be too careful.
“It’s just vodka,” Dante explained. “I wanted tequila, or at least a blowjob, but Nico overruled me.”
“But I like blowjobs,” Rowan said mournfully.
“Vodka is good,” Nico insisted unapologetically and lifted his shot.
“So good,” Ryan cooed, holding up his drink.
Good grief. Jordy didn’t think they’d taken that long to get here, but the evidence was staring him in the face. “Wright, are you drunk already?”
“Maybe,” Ryan admitted. He shot a coy, under-the-eyelashes look at Jordy, then Nico. “But I’m celebrating.” Nico turned positively pink and gooey-eyed under Ryan’s gaze. Despite himself, Jordy’s curiosity was piqued.
“What are you celebrating?” Rowan asked.
“Mawwige!” Ryan crowed. “It’s what bwings us togevvah!” He smacked a kiss to Nico’s cheek.
Jordy blinked. “What?”
Something must have made sense to Rowan, because his eyes widened. “Seriously?”
Dante laughed. “Seriously. We drove up to the small town of Tuckahoe—” Rowan and Jordy both choked, and Ryan giggled. “Tuckahoe, I shit you not, it’s just north of Mount Vernon. Anyway, I can’t officiate a wedding in New York City without a two-to-six-week waiting period. Fortunately that doesn’t apply to any small town that’s willing to accept my credentials and the court filing fees.”
Jordy stared at Dante, then Ryan and Nico, then back at Dante. There was so much to unpack there.
Rowan recouped faster. “Wait, wait, wait. So you’re telling me that sometime after bitching about wedding planning yesterday morning, you two got a license and then drove out of the city so you could get married?”
“Yes,” Ryan said. He kissed Nico’s cheek again. “As much as I was enjoying fucking with people with all my dumb wedding ideas, all the planning made Nico a nervous wreck. So we decided to skip it.”
“Wow,” Rowan said. “That’s… actually adorably romantic.”
“It wassoromantic.” Ryan enthused. He sat up and fished his phone from his pocket. “Wanna see pictures?”
“Of course.” Rowan leaned across the table to get a better view, his beer forgotten.
